The Nov. 2 Clearfield County Controller’s race features Republican candidate Robert (Rob) Edwards and his Democratic opponent Zachary Bloom.
GANT News conducted a candidate questionnaire so that the county’s voters could use candidates’ responses to gauge their views, experience and knowledge.
Each candidate was asked the same 10 questions. Candidates were not limited in their responses; thorough, well-thought-out responses were strongly encouraged.
Robert (Rob) Edwards, (R)
Provide a brief biography and background.
My name is Robert (Rob) Edwards. I am a native of Olanta, and a graduate of Curwensville Area High School. My Bachelor’s degree in accounting is from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. My wife, Laura, daughter, Maggie, and I reside in Olanta.
Why did you choose to run for Clearfield County Controller?
An alignment of several situations: Our current county controller chose not to run for re-election. At the same time, our restaurant is now only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Our great team of people, along with limited days being open, will allow me to perform Controller duties full-time while still overseeing the operation of our business.
What qualifies you to hold the office of Clearfield County Controller?
As mentioned above, my educational background is in accounting, which encompasses the duties of County Controller.
My first job began with me performing bookkeeping, secretarial duties and shipping and receiving, which was a great way to understand the many facets of the manufacturing company for which I was employed.
As time went on my duties kept expanding until I was ultimately promoted to the position of corporate controller. Some of the experience gained during this time are: general ledger accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, preparation of payroll, filing employer taxes, administering the company retirement plan, coordinating bank compliance audits, coordinating year-end financial audits with our outside CPA firm, selecting business insurance and employee benefits plans, coordinating annual audits of our insurance and benefits plans and integrating newly-acquired companies into our accounting systems.
My career with this company lasted 19 years, until my wife and I purchased a restaurant in Clearfield.
For over six years now, we have owned a restaurant in Clearfield. This has continued to afford me the opportunity to perform many of the same accounting and human resource functions in operating a business.
It has also given me the opportunity to interact closely with the general public. Between the two jobs I have had in my life, I have 25 years of accounting experience.
What is the most important aspect of this position, and how can you ensure you meet all the qualifications?
I believe that the understanding of financial systems is the most important aspect, whether it be assisting the commissioners with the county budget, ensuring accurate payroll for our county employees, managing the pension plan or performing internal audits to ensure that procedures are being followed properly. I will use my 25 years of experience to perform these duties, and I am always open to learning more.
What do you think makes you the better candidate for Clearfield County Controller?
I have 25 years of financial and accounting experience.
If you are elected, what would you make your top financial priority once in office?
My top priority is to help the county operate as efficiently as possible. I understand that there are many burdens imposed on the county budget, such as higher-level government mandates and unpredictability of costs in the corrections and health and welfare categories.
And we are all aware of how general inflation is affecting everyone’s budget right now. One of the best ways to help mitigate these impacts is to ensure that we are operating our financial systems efficiently. This is how we can balance providing county services, while mitigating the impact to our taxpayers.
What is the greatest challenge facing the Controller’s office in Clearfield County? How would you overcome it?
I don’t think that there is necessarily one great challenge … many challenges (as discussed above) come together to create the “greatest challenge.”
I truly believe that the way to overcome these challenges is to operate as efficiently as possible. We must constantly look for better ways to do things!
If you are elected, what plans do you have to develop positive working relationships with other elected officials and county departments?
My job experiences have provided me the opportunity to work together with others from a wide variety of backgrounds, thought-processes and personalities.
Nobody ever agrees with each other 100 percent of the time, but as elected county officials, I believe that we are obligated to work together for the good of Clearfield County.
As County Controller, you are the elected fiscal watchdog. How would you handle discovery of an error or fraud? How would you prevent a future recurrence?
We would conduct a fair and thorough investigation, then report to the appropriate authority as necessary. Performing periodic internal audits is the best way to prevent errors or fraud.
A simple example is to review an expenditure to ensure that proper procedures were followed, in terms of receiving multiple quotations, ensuring that we received the goods or services spelled-out in the quotation, ensuring that proper county officials approved the purchase, etc.
What would you like voters to consider before they make their final choice for Controller’s office?
Please consider the fact that my 25 years of experience, along with my ability to work with others, will allow me to effectively serve the people of Clearfield County as their Controller.
Zachary Bloom, (D)
Provide a brief biography and background.
My name is Zachary Bloom of Houtzdale, Pa. My family is native to Clearfield County; however, my father is an officer in the U.S. Army, so I spent a good portion of my childhood traveling the country.
When I was 14, I returned to Clearfield County where I graduated from Moshannon Valley in 2015. It’s hard to think of a place as home when you move as frequently as I did in support of my father’s military career. I wouldn’t trade any of it for living in Clearfield County though.
No matter where I was or how far away it may have been, something always drew me back here, to what I have for many years considered to be my home.
At the age of 18, I had the honor of being elected to the Houtzdale Borough Council where I still serve today and serve as chief communication officer for the borough council.
In addition to serving on the borough council, I graduated The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in political science.
Why did you choose to run for Clearfield County Controller?
I chose to run for Clearfield County Controller, because the department has clearly had its integrity eroded over the last four years.
Whether it was people convicted of fraud nearly being put in key positions or the open practice of nepotism within the department, enough was enough.
If we don’t have a department that can be believed in by even our own commissioners, then how can we trust it to manage our tax money?
Here’s the hard truth that the people of Clearfield County clearly already recognize. The political establishment has caused a great erosion of trust and efficiency within our county government.
They have lost the faith of our people and it is time to fix that. We need to work together instead of the useless in-fighting to enhance this county’s future and get back to helping people.
Change will only begin if we elect an outsider and not a handpicked candidate from the political establishment. The time for rewarding good party followers with positions has to come to an end.
I am that outsider, the person who comes from a small town with big ideas. The only person who can rebuild the trust of the people of both political parties.
It is your tax money and I have a record that shows I can manage it responsibly.
What qualifies you to hold the office of Clearfield County Controller?
For the past six years, I have served on Houtzdale’s Borough council. We balanced our budgets and we never raised taxes once.
That’s an important note, because even though we haven’t increased revenues, we have lowered expenditures.
All while getting brand-new equipment and infrastructure through careful budgeting.
In those past six years alone, I have been the chief grant writer and coordinator for the borough, getting private, county, state and even federal grant funding to make Houtzdale an example of what good civic governance can bring.
The ability to work with any level of government has been a cornerstone of my tenure in office.
This was best seen at the county level with the recent vote for the 911 dispatcher’s management raises.
The County Controller can’t be just good at the basic responsibilities of the job, but also needs the mental fortitude to withstand political pressure both from county politicians and those pesky political establishments and make choices that best take care of this county’s taxpayer dollars.
I’ve been fighting for the needs of my constituents since my first year of public office. In addition, transparency is a key part of my leadership style and that is why it was such a key priority during my tenure on the Houtzdale Borough Council.
What is the most important aspect of this position, and how can you ensure you meet all the qualifications?
Work ethic and integrity are equally important. In the economic times that we are in now, dedication to your job and doing your absolute best at it is the only way we can move forward.
I have traveled this county over the course of the year to learn the concerns of the people. The common answer that crosses political affiliation and income class is that they are tired of the political hookups, insider politics and scandal after scandal in our county government.
Me being elected could be the first victory in a long campaign for the people of Clearfield County to retake their government.
I will put people in that office that are qualified, not my friends or family members, and build a team that restores trust and raises the quality of the department.
Government shouldn’t be a game that wealthy political elites get to play, we need people who care and will work for you.
What do you think makes you the better candidate for Clearfield County Controller?
I understand the people of Clearfield County, particularly those who live in the more geographically-disconnected areas from the county seat.
The people of Osceola, Karthaus, Mahaffey, Burnside, etc. I’ve fought through low-funding situations and went through those situations that have made me as if my hometown was forgotten by my state and county.
I am just a guy who wants to help his fellow citizens. Prior to this year, being politically active meant building memorials to remember our nation’s veterans, making it easier for citizens of Houtzdale to reach their town council members or shoveling people out in snow storms.
If I take office in January, that definition will change to helping my fellow citizens throughout Clearfield County and ensuring that everyone who lives or works in this county is considered and listened to when it comes to our county budget.
“Everybody counts, or nobody counts.” – Harry Bosch
If you are elected, what would you make your top financial priority once in office?
The top priority will be ensuring the budget agreed upon by our County Commissioners is managed efficiently.
Ultimately, the County Controller has to ensure that no fraud is committed with our tax money and that it is managed in the best way possible by the best people possible.
Our county has a budget stretching well passed $30 million dollars and there is no room for errors.
What is the greatest challenge facing the Controller’s office in Clearfield County? How would you overcome it?
The greatest challenge right now is a lack of trust between the County Departments and the Controller.
We’ve seen over the course of the last few years of the commissioners, of both parties, having to making repeated statements condemning the actions of the Controller department.
I would like to work to modernize the department. We need to bring the Controller’s office into the 21st century, and this means reducing the reliance on paper where possible and increasing transparency with the people of Clearfield County.
The days of dusty record books are over, and it is time to move the office and this county into a modern world so jobs can be created and people can be attracted to move here.
That starts at our government level, if we cannot trust our money management, whether that be the people who do it or the equipment they use, then how can we expect anyone to have trust in our county government?
If you are elected, what plans do you have to develop positive working relationships with other elected officials and county departments?
David Winston, a long-time advisor to congressional Republicans and President of the Winston Group, once stated, “When we stop talking to each other, democracy dies in silence.”
I’m not afraid to talk to people, unlike my opponent. Not only have I walked, talked, or sat with a large portion of this county over the course of the summer.
I have also been working with members of our county and state government for over half a decade. We need to talk, build relations with each other, and start setting partisan politics to the side.
In my time as a Houtzdale councilman, I worked with my Democrat and Republican colleagues to make Houtzdale a better place.
I also have steady communication with State Rep. Tommy Sankey (R-73rd District) to have understanding of both state and local level issues.
If we can’t work together, how can we move this county forward? It’s not hard to build good relations, it just takes open ears and slow-to-talk approach.
As County Controller, you are the elected fiscal watchdog. How would you handle discovery of an error or fraud? How would you prevent a future recurrence?
In a Controller Bloom’s department, there is no room for fraud and error must be limited. In a post-COVID 19 world, many local and county governments were hit hard by the pandemic.
Budgets were reduced, because of the lack of revenue. There isn’t time for money to go missing or an incompetent controller to be behind the wheel.
If I discover fraud, I will involve District Attorney Ryan Sayers and all appropriate agencies to prosecute those who are committing it.
If there is error, then we will need to analyze why that error happened. This could mean reaching out to another County Controller, looking at our processes, bringing in auditing agencies, etc., but the key is to keep everybody involved in the process.
However, I do foresee the modernization of the County Department cutting significantly down on any errors.
What would you like voters to consider before they make their final choice for Controller’s office?
I’d like the voters of this county to remember this:
This county cannot continue to operate under the thumb of corrupt political establishments and partisan politics. We suffered greatly for four years for this exact reason and we just simply cannot afford another four years.
My campaign’s victory would not be the final victory in the campaign for the people of this county to retake their government, but it would be a small victory in a longer campaign of making Clearfield County better.
We have a unique opportunity here to put someone in office who isn’t just not afraid to step outside the play of the establishment game in this county, but rather I would be someone who refuses to play altogether. I will do what a best for your tax money, even if it is not what is best for me politically.
I don’t come into this campaign advocating for Democrat or Republican ideals. I come as someone advocating the ideals of our citizens. This isn’t politics to me, it’s personal.